Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-03-12


how glad l was to discover a couple of
fusees in the lining of my waistcoat.
AZ heard her walking slowly up the
stairs. and then in the room above my
head. Then there was sound of voices.
as of man and woman talking, but |
could not distinguish what was said very
clearly. The man seemed to ask. Who is
it J? what does he want? the woman's an
swers were inaudible
" Presently l heard steps on the stairs,
heavy slow tread. 1t was. Mr.. Mort On
the landing be began to whistle, and came
whistling into the room.
Il was sitting on chair opposite the
door, and saw him con in. 1t was tall
stout figure and what greatly surprised me
was that he wore a hat.
al could see neither his face nor his
dress, but / can assure you that this tall,
black figure, wearing hat, was of no very
comfortable aspect as | saw it pass through
that mysterious light.
He crossed the room, whistling all the
while and sat down with his back to the
window, the curtains of which were ar
ranged so as to completely conceal Ills per-
| son.
80 Well, what do you want? he asked
I in a very deep voice. hope your bust
ness is important. Otherwise you may get
! into trouble for disturbing me at this hour
Come what is it?'
u had prepared my answer, and said
We have had an offer of two thousand
dollars from Whites of New York, for the
adyance-sheets of your next novel. We
are to cable reply. l have been sent down
to consult you, and, at the same time, to
ask you when it will be ready. We are
very anxious to get the manuscript in hand
at once.
Mr. Mort made no answer, and the per
| feet stiffness of the house, the awful light
that shone through the window, and the
! dim outline of that mysterious figure
among the curtains, produced together an
| effect that was decidedly unpleasant to my
nerves. | decided that my joke had gone
far enough. But could not go away with
out seeing our author; that would have been
a fiasco. So l dropped shilling on the
| floor, pretended 10 grope for it, and struck
| a fusee.
with a cry that chilled me to the bones,
the figure sprang at me with its arms out.
| OF course was not going to stand any vio-
lence, author or no author, so pushed my
chair in between his legs and down be
came, such acropper Meanwhile rushed
out into the passage, opened the door
somehow, and ran all the way here. And
Jolly glad | am to be out of that house."
But didn't you see him after all ?"
cried.
"Oh, yes answered Charlie; Just
had glance as l dropped my fusee, when
he rushed at me. But that glance was
| quite enough 1t was like concentrated
| Bedlam.N
Well, describe him to me, Charlie,
said my husband, who seemed as much in
terested as l myself was.
"A tall, fat man, with 8 red face, beard
! less and whiskerless. He had top hat on.
His hair was short and like rats tails"
John p | cried, horror-stricken; why,
that's Mrs. Mort.
This is a very serious matter, said my
husband. = 1t seems as if oursfirst sus-
picions were correct. | hardly know what
to think. We must 90 round to Squire
Dale the first thing in the morning and tell
him what we have heard. He is q magis-
trate and will know how to act
Perhaps she has murdered him."
cried. " and has him in the house. Oh,
| John, how HORRIBLE
/ Don't Jump at conclusions like that,
Mary" said my husband 6 don't know
what to think, but am convinced the mat
ter ought to be Investigated. Come, let US
get to bed We will speak to Dale in the
morning
I did not close my eyes ali that night,
but kept thinking Of that horrible woman.
about her and her house.
Immediately after breakfast next morn
ing we went round to the Grange Mr.
! Dale, when she heard Charles story, was
most resolute. He decided to draw out a
search warrant and to enter the premises
! by force, If necessary. When the village
Constable, whom he sent for, had arrived,
he set out with him and my husband
Charlie was anxious to accompany them,
but felt SO nervous that Insisted on his
escorting me home. Mrs. Dale was i'll at
| the time so did not want to let her know
what had happened.
We waited at the viclrage with the great
! est impotence for Johns return Charlie
behaved horribly, and filled my head with
the most gruesome fancies. l cannot inn
agine where he could have heard all the
| dreadful stories he told me- He decided
| that Mrs. Mort had killed her husband,
aud that the dead body was stuffed up the
parlor chimney. At last, seeing how
! frightened | was, he tried to calm me by
laughing at himself.
No. Mary he said Tive got it now
The old lady keeps her husband chained
up in the back kitchen. on bread and
water, and only lets him out when he has
! finished book. She finds that that is the
only way TO make him work
could not help smiling at this idea. but
nevertheless was mighty curious to hear
what my husband would have to tell. He
returned about noon, and we met him at
the gate.
| saw at once by his face that my silly
fears had been unfounded. He laughed
heartily, as he glanced at my pale cheeks
and scared expression.
Don't be frightened, little woman he
said, taking my arm. Its nothing so
very dreadful, after all We had great
work to get into the house, and it was only
when the Squire threatened to have the
door broken down that Mrs Mort let us
| in. ! never saw a woman look so furious.
| Mr.. Dale was very polite, but said that, as
| there were all kinds of rumors afloat, he
had felt it bis duty to ask to see Mr.. Mort
in person.
Mort.
az am sorry to say, said the SQUIRE.
that J must insist on disturbing him
| There is suspicion. ridiculous enough, no
doubt, of foul play on your part, Mrs. Mort
Kindly assist me in clearing the matter up,
for once and all
g can't; he's asleep. Call again, she
snarled
- You are prevaricating answered the
! Squire. must search the premises.
Constable, attend to this lady while we go
up stairs
q Mrs Mort threw herself on the ground
before him. and, clasping his knees, be-
! sought him not to do so-not to wake her
| James, but to call again.
This, of course, only confirmed the
magistrates suspicious, and. handing the
lady over to the Constable. who locked
himself up with her in the famous draw
ing-room, he went up stairs, accompanied
! by me.
| The first room we came into was fur
nished with bed, a table, and chair. The
table was fitted with writing materials, and
covered with pages of manuscript. pile
of books was heaped up in one corner. All
| the other rooms were quite empty, and,
1 though we instituted thorough search in
all directions we were unable to discover
any trace of Mr.. Mort, or of his mortal
remains.
At last we descended to the drawing
I r